Georgia

As stated in the Skipper Bob books, "The USACOE does not have the funds to maintain the ICW in lower South Carolina/Georgia area."  In other words, they can't afford to do any dredging!  Many of the areas are becoming so shallow, they are practically impassable. Hands down, Georgia remains the most difficult stretch of the ICW to navigate.  The problem is shoaling, and that is likely to remain the case until the state finds some environmentally acceptable spoil disposal sites. Georgia has 139 miles of ICW and many cruisers choose not to go on the ICW, but if you "play the tides" and watch the depths, it isn't all that bad.  Our first anchorage in Georgia was the Vernon River, which is large and deep.  We were able to rest peacefully before attempting Hell's Gate, Florida Passage and Creighton Narrows.  Our second nights anchorage was on the North River, which was only a few miles from the beginning of the next leg which was Little Mud River, Altamaha Sound, Buttermilk Sound and lastly Jekyll Creek. Little Mud River and Jekyll Creek rank first and second, respectively, for the worst shoaling on the 1,200 miles of ICW from Norfolk, VA to Key West, FL.

Cumberland Island is the last section of land in Georgia and is known for the "wild horses".  We were lucky enough to see several of them walking the beach.
Throughout the Georgia portion of the waterway we'd seen very little development and often few signs if any of people in Georgia!  The ICW winds back and forth but it does so through much virgin land and it is very pretty.  All in all, we loved Georgia---it is one of our favorite parts of the ICW!